RE: [TCLUG:7430] Netscape unable to resolve host names

["Eric Hillman" <ehillman@cccu.com>]

> The problem is nslookup works fine from command line.
> I'm using 'direct connection to internet' setting, in
> netscape preferences.
> But for some reason, netscape is unable to resolve the
> host names. If I give IP address, then netscape can
> access the page correctly.
>
> Earlier when I was using ppp, I remeber reading
> somewhere (faqs/how-to) that if netscape is running
> before ppp connection is made, then netscape runs into
> similar problem. Does this has anything to do with my
> current problem ?


  For reasons which are unclear to me, Netscape uses an app called "dns
helper" instead of just using nslookup.  If that app is missing, unable to
start, dying on startup, or crashing, then that's probably your problem.

  If, in fact, you're running netscape before you get connected to a valid
DNS server, then that might cause this problem.  The first thing I'd do to
debug this is, with nothing in particular running:

1   do a 'ps aux' and examine the output, looking for a line that says "(dns
helper)".  If it appears, kill it, and do another 'ps aux' to make sure it
went away.  While you're at it, make sure there aren't any zombie netscapes
floating around.

2   Get connected to the internet and do an nslookup, to make sure that
works.

3   Start netscape from a terminal (as opposed to a menu) -- that way if
there are startup errors, they'll show up on your terminal.

4   Do another 'ps aux', or better yet, 'ps aux | grep dns' to check to see
if that "(dns helper)" program started.

5   Try opening a page in netscape.  Make it the one you nslookup'ed in step
2.

6   If you couldn't open the page, and the dns helper thing was working in
4, see if it's still up now.

  Hopefully, this will give you some more information as to what part of
this process is breaking down.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly what
to do to fix it, but I'm hoping that somewhere along the line a useful error
message might pop up.

[I'm not sure where that "direct connection to the Internet" setting you're
talking about is, but I'm guessing you're talking about the one under
"proxies".  Unless you're behind a proxying firewall (one which brokers http
requests for you instead of doing masquerading), then this shouldn't affect
anything.]